UE Convention Resolutions
An Economy for All
Our government has revealed that it holds most sacred the right of the rich to get richer. Our union believes that the well-being of our nation’s people and our democracy depends instead on a radical readjustment of America’s economic priorities. We believe that the government has a responsibility to restructure the economy to benefit all the people, not just a fortunate few. It must protect the people from the damaging impacts of economic downturns, from overwork, discrimination, and exploitation. The right to worthwhile education, training, and employment, and to a dignified and healthy retirement, is the responsibility of our government. Government must work to meet the needs of the people if we are to avoid a further slide into poverty, decay, and criminality.
An outlandish recent example of the failure of government is the escalating cost of fuels and utilities. The energy monopolies gorge on mile-high profits, as costs to consumers skyrocket. The record costs of energy are pinching people’s pocketbooks in additional ways, as these rising prices spill into the general economy and cause a quickening of inflation.
As the percentage of workers in unions declines, the distribution of our national wealth becomes more uneven with each year. The current generation is on track to being the first in our nation’s history to experience a lower standard of living than our parents.
The standard of living of the U.S. working class is under assault from all sides. Nearly one-third of U.S. workers are now "contingent," employed on a part-time, temporary, or contractual basis. Job cuts continue to fall hardest on those in full-time permanent jobs, as employers look to ditch these workers in favor of newer and lower paid replacements. Important fringe benefits have been decimated. More than 47 million people now lack health insurance. Many of the uninsured are employed, but are unable to afford the crushing cost of health insurance. Our pension safety net has been shredded, as one employer after another eliminates traditional pensions. Recent changes to the tax code by the Bush regime and its sycophants in state government have only made the unfair aspects of our tax code even more pronounced. Billions of dollars in tax cuts have been lavished on big business and wealthy individuals in recent decades, while the tax burden on ordinary working people continues to climb.
The resulting shortfalls at the federal and state levels in the wake of the tax-cuts-for-the-rich mania have resulted in widespread fiscal crises. School budgets, higher education, healthcare, local law enforcement, and public transportation are all being slashed, adding to the dismantling of our communities.
The Bush administration’s war in Iraq has magnified working people’s economic burdens. The costs of the war are staggering, that brings with it ominous implications. The Bush administration has cynically used its so-called "war on terror" to justify its attack on unions and union workers, most notably when it stripped federal workers of their unionization rights under the bogus pretext of "homeland security." The war spending negatively impacts workers once through the sheer magnitude of the wasteful spending, and a second time as the Bush regime utilizes the politics of the situation to ram home income lowering attacks such as the assault on unions.
Our nation’s trade policies are used by government and industry to drive down our living standards. "Free trade" schemes such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and their clones encourage companies to move jobs across borders in search of the lowest wages and environmental standards. These deals force U.S. workers into a race to the bottom of wages, conditions, and benefits.
Recent scandalous revelations regarding rampant fraud and abuse perpetrated on working people by the lending and banking industry, are another example of the systematic robbery by business and government. Government regulators and enforcement agencies were fully aware that millions of people were being seduced into impossible to pay high-interest loan arrangements. While these companies made billions of dollars in profits, the Bush administration and Congress did nothing to halt the runaway fraud. Millions of working people are now trapped in a downward debt spiral that will end in homelessness and bankruptcy for many.
Large majorities of working people in the U.S. agree that the direction of our economy is wrong and unfair. While it is unrealistic to expect a system that will benefit everyone equally, a better and more equitable system is desperately needed. Our vision of a better day will not be denied by the corporate elite and the politicians they own. We must continue to promote our vision and build an economy that benefits all working people.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 70th UE CONVENTION:
- Demands that Congress restore full employment to its rightful place at the top of federal priorities;
- Demands that Congress along with state and local governments reform the tax system by restoring higher tax rates for the wealthy and corporations and reducing the tax rate of working-class Americans;
- Calls on UE locals and regions to participate in the broad campaign for new federal tax and spending priorities by joining and assisting groups and coalitions such as the Citizens’ Budget Campaign, and United for a Fair Economy;
- Actively supports organizations that are attempting to create alternative, people-driven models of globalization, such as the Hemispheric Social Alliance and the World Social Forum;
- Calls on UE locals to participate in the campaign for "people first" economic development policy by joining community development organizations such as Good Jobs First, participating in activities like the Vermont People’s Roundtable, and to interject a pro-worker perspective in local economic development initiatives;
- Calls on UE locals to support and participate in organizations which analyze the economy from a workers’ perspective, such as the Economic Policy Institute and the Iowa Policy Project, and to share that information with elected leaders in order to counteract the rhetoric of anti-worker economists.